Disabled Family Raising Funds for Tour of the United States

A new fund (Disable Family Tour of the United States) was announced today to assist a disabled family with a dream of breaking the bounds of their disability and accomplish something extraordinary.

In 1996, Charles & Christine Reeves welcomed the arrival of their new son Nicholas. Nicholas was plague from birth with unusual symptoms that doctors could not explain. He started missing developmental milestones and by 4 years old, his parents were convinced there was something very wrong with their son.

In 2000 after going through several pedestrians, the Reeves’ found Doctor Tanis at Pediatric Associates that took a serious look into Nicholas’ issues and refer him to Miami Children Neurology Department. During this same period, Christine was pregnant with their second child and Nicholas’ appointment with Miami Children’s came after her due date.

On March 8th 2001, Christine gave birth to Cory Reeves at Aventura Hospital & Medical Center and immediately there was issues with the newborn. He was unable to breathe on his own and had to be emergency transported to Miami Children’s Neonatal ICU.

At Miami Children’s it was discovered that Cory along with his brother Nicholas and their mother Christine were all suffering from a rare genetic disease known as Myotonic Dystrophy (DM1). Myotonic Dystrophy also known as Steinert disease is very difficult to diagnose because of the varying symptoms that it presents. As a result, patients may remain undiagnosed or be misdiagnosed.

Christine was born with a milder form of DM1 and therefore was never diagnosed with having the condition. Unfortunately, she passed on the more severe congenital form of the disease to her children Nicholas and Cory. The two boys have presented severe symptoms of the disease including mental retardation, muscle atrophy, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, insomnia, ptosis, and myotonia.

Christine has presented more severe symptoms as she grows older losing her ability to stand or walk for any length of time, disequilibrium, muscles spasms, joint pain, hypersomnia, nausea, depression, myotonia and requires constant pain medication.

The children now 12 & 17 years old, still require constant adult supervision. They have problems communicating and performing even the simplest of tasks and Cory is still incontinence. They have missed many of the joys of childhood and will most likely always require some form of supervision.

The father has pledged in the best interest of the family that before they are unable to do so for medical reason, to take the family on an exploratory tour of the United States to see the sights and wonders this great country has to offer. He is currently raising funds to purchase a truck and travel trailer using indiegogo crowd funding in hopes to accomplish this task.